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The Apostle Paul was also able to confer the gift of holy spirit through the laying
on of hands (Acts 19: 5, 6), for he was "not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles"
(II Cor. 11: 5).
The receiving of holy spirit without the laying on of hands, recorded in Acts 10: 44 of
the Gentiles, must be looked upon in the light of being confirmation of the Lord to Peter
and the circumcision, that the Gentiles were now being called out. A reading of the
whole of the events which led up to this passage, will demonstrate that the inclusion of
the Gentiles at this time was quite contrary to the expectations of Peter and the Jewish
believers, and was a step which the Lord found necessary to take in order to "stir up"
Israel. [See Rom. 11: 11-14 and note the expression used by Paul of the Gentile inclusion,
"contrary to nature" (verse 24) and his description of himself as "one born out of due
time" (lit. "an abortion") I Cor. 15: 8. The latter expression may suggest that Paul was
called to apostleship previous to what had been intended, owing to the attitude of the
Jews to the gospel.]
Authority to "bind" and "loose".
"Thou art Peter . . . . . And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16: 18, 19).
"Verily I say unto you (plural, so the `disciples' of verse 1), Whatsoever ye shall bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven" (Matt. 18: 18).
To Peter were committed the "keys of the kingdom of the heavens"; to all the
Apostles the authority to "bind" and "loose". What did this authority represent?
The word `key' (kleis) is used in only one other place in the Gospels, but significantly:
"Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered
not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered" (Luke 11: 52).
To what the "entering in" here refers, may be gathered from a similar passage where
the verbal form of kleis (key) is used:
"Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up (kleio) the kingdom
of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in" (Matt. 23: 13).
The kingdom of the heavens may be looked upon as a house of which Peter (as leader
of the Apostles) was given the "keys". He was as it were, the door-keeper or house
steward of that house which was built upon the rock; the confession which Peter himself
had just voiced:
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16: 16).
Peter was empowered to determine who were to belong to, and who to be excluded
from, the house of His Master, Who had entrusted him with the "keys". In close